33 crazy night with Vic and Simna

When I met Vic and Simna at 10pm that night they were both already high from their previous engagement and it was 9 years since I have met them (I think). It was super super random, and we also met Ben on the bridge, we walked to stickies and saw his group of friends.

So, after a round of beer at stickies, we went for sake, opened a bottle at my regular bar and that's when things got really bad. They went over to the other table and played kissing games. And Nat came, and after my first forfeit I drank so much I can't remember anything except I took the cab at 5am and it costed $38.40.

It was a crazy night because it was my actually birthday (unexpectedly) and they wanted to get me laid LOL. The hangover was horrible the next day.

I just met Vic for lunch just now and he told me this was what happened during my memory loss:
1. I made out with a few people
2. They kept pulling me away from the ugly ones but failed
3. Simna made out with another guy
4. There's somebody who joined us, studied in Fudan
5. Somebody knocked down a table and broke a lot of glass
6. Simna got cut on her leg

This is horrible. So many things happened and I can't even remember when I myself was there.
So after 33yo, I shall drink responsibly and not over-drink. Period. I am really horrified by my memory loss.

CNY 2020

After a half day at work during CNY eve, went to ah ma house for lunch and playing tug-o-war with the kids, then went back home to pack, met Ray, and dinner, shower, set off to PD via woodlands checkpoint. I reached the Kranji bus stop at around 9pm, and got out of the JB customs at 11pm, and just nice the twins came to pick me up.

We stopped over at starbucks, discussed about Japan, and then Aestar came to pick me up at 1am. Hao drove really quickly, reached PD in 3 hours time and I was so grumpy and sleepy.

I love the food, hanging with the cousins, the crisp fresh air and the lack of mobile network. I could really clear my mind and meditate there. I hate the bad sleeping environment, that's it. Anyway we did some drinking and also celebrating birthdays. Thanks Aestar for the cake.

We were off by the second morning, a bit of jam at the customs but not too long, then I went over to Hwee's house and everyone were so surprised to see me like a wild pokemon. Usually I don't appear during CNY and this was the first time. As usual, food and playing with kids, and went back for a nap and drinks at night. To be continued in the next post...

Myoko Tokyo 2020

I was so looking forward to this trip because I haven't been to Japan for 1 whole year. Can you imagine 1 whole year for me? And I only snowboarded 2 days last year. So anyway Kyle said he wanted to tag along, which makes sharing accommodation easier and luckily Mieko-san had a room for us so we went ahead.

I took a red-eye Thai airways flight, which is ok just that I get super grumpy without sleep. The first day was in Nagano, wearing my new Allsaints coat and I got another good fortune. We went for outlet shopping after then wagyu steak dinner (overcharged urgh). The morning I was really puzzled because usually on the way to Myoko Kogen station I will see all white and snowy but it was really bare and everything's brown instead of white. No signs of fresh snow. The station was also very shocking. It was all white last year but this year I can barely see the snow. It's crazy bad. I was prepared for a really bad snow day.

First day at Kanko, taught Kyle how to snowboard, went higher up and it started snowing in the afternoon which was about time! Dinner at Udon as usual. Second day I went by myself and it was snowing profusely, which was also good. Kanko was quite enjoyable and tiring. Dinner at BBQ. Third day at Suginohara - it wasn't so bad but there were bare patches at the bottom of the slopes, and the snow at the top was OOOMPH. The really wide park that I discovered was also really crazy. I was so tired by the afternoon already. 3 days of snowboarding is the limit. Luckily for the night onsens.

Ok so I booked this newly opened hotel in Nov last year, it is superb. I would stay there everytime if I had somebody to share the cost with me. The rooms are amazing, the toilet is so nice and lobby smells like new hotels, and location is so central. I love Mitsui Garden.

Anyway first day in Tokyo, my fav chicken ramen, and we split to different places. There were some weird conversations because I didn't really know Kyle well, and honestly I shouldn't have brought him. He really sound like a dumb blonde American who haven't been out of the country. Some of the dumb things he said:
" I feel like Japan is like a communist country, they are being polite even though they don't like it"
Firstly, how is that communist when you come from Vietnam? And secondly, it's their culture and how do you even know they don't like it.
" I want to compare the sushi here and the ones that I ate in LA, see if it's better"
Bitch, this is Japan.
" Oh I had Omakase in LA, the chef blah blah"
Bitch, this is Japan.

Like seriously??? I was so annoyed at one point I just wanted to punch him or get rid of him. I never wanted a trip to end so quickly before. But luckily we went to do our own stuff and as usual, I overspent. I met Emi-chan, bought lotsa Muji stuff and luckily for me, she was gonna move to Osaka next month and so glad we could meet up. And then also overspent at Donki and matsumoto. Sigh. Why is Tokyo so buyable. And I didn't even have time to shop for my gundams at Akiba.

Oh we ate at La Bonne Table, which was quite fabulous, and Omakase at Matsue which was meh but it was the first time I ate fish sperm. I mean I'd rather pay for my usual shibuya sushi-ya, but it's not too expensive.

The last 2 nights were really the highlight of the trip. Friday night after heavy shopping I went back to put down my stuff and headed out for drinks. Made friends with 2 Kenneths from HK at the club. It was good and the cab fare was a whopping $50.

The second night I went there alone, I had expected Piken to be there.
"Where's your friend?"
"Oh I drove him out of the room and threw him over the ledge. Kidding. He's drinking with his friend,"
"Oh drinking. U here alone?"
"Yea I was waiting for you"
"No way..."
"Way lol"

And after that added 2 more Thais, 1 Jap and 1 US-Chinese. Super international crowd. It was really a fun night of mystery, and it's the first time I waited for the first train after clubbing. I had like 45mins of sleep before I headed to the airport, and didn't have time to buy anything at the airport. Havoc.

Just back!

Just arrived in SG yesterday and didn't have enough sleep for the past 2 days. The last night in Tokyo ended with 1 hour of sleep and I was essentially a zombie on the flight.

I have a million things to do. Unpack my luaggge, send for dry cleaning, organise my stuff, return my library books, catch up on work (URGH), confirm my next trip, send souvenirs to friends and mostly catch up on my work because I'm lagging behind a lot.

And CNY is just this weekend omg. My days are so packed and I wanna go gym but so many things to do and I'm procrastinating so much.

Looking back 2019

January to March
1st month into my new job and loving it
Made Cherry & Orange gin, met sugar mummy for lunch
Bought 3 pairs of shoes and other stuff online/carousell
First solo snowboarding - only for 2 days, shortest ever, went to Niigata and Tokyo and discovered a lot of new noms
Transit at Bangkok - spent my birthday there with Neab and Tao's gang. Bangkok design week
Port Dickson for 1 night again, Dad's a bit too old to drive anymore
Celebrated birthday with choir peeps
Captain Marvel
Started lunch salad diet after Ed's comment
CBD lunches with Noel until he went HK
Shanghai with Andy and Kelvin, managed to catch up with most peeps with food and cherry blossom
Submitted my masters application

April to June
Guangzhou with Andy with a lot of food
Injured my foot from walking too much, had almost 2 weeks of MC
Avengers Endgame and felt empty and melancholic after that
Got the rejected letter from LSE
Gin at Ryan's place, the Sean and the Nic and social media detox
Adele, Big Little Lies, Kelly Clarkson
Neab in Singapore, went out to party
Began to build my gundams and re-doing my room
Considering an ink

July to September
July Bangkok mind-clearing trip - with Jason and Edward, and then Jason big mouth
Switched to my pasta and hamburger steak lunch diet
Marie Kondo-ing my room
Made crispy pork, new shoes
Becky moved to US
Started drinking with Domi and JJ and a lot of drunk incidents
Kyle in Singapore - more drinking
Zac's contract ended and farewell lunch

September to December
Jeremy incident
Jordan trip with Neab - one of the most adventurous,exciting,exotic trip yet. I love Wadi Rum.
Transit at KL with Justin
Shikai back for 2 separate weekends - drinking and partying
Kenneth's and Jarren's birthday
Vic and Daniel
Peach blossom luck
IPPT gold, Justin based in Singapore and the most drunk moment of the year
Bye Alan
Hectic work rushing
Star Wars ended

2019
Financial
This year is definitely my richest year yet. I didn't spend much on travelling, going to all the budget places and the core-holiday was to Jordan, which didn't cost as much. I also didn't spend much on clothes or luxury goods, only when I'm traveling. I guess bottles of gin were my only luxury goods. I did save a lot buying stuff from Carousell and Taobao, like all the furniture and also earned passive income from selling stuff on Carousell. I saved quite a bit bringing lunch to work as well and reduction in drinking out and cabbing during weekends.

Despite not having a bonus, I managed to save 53.89% of my total cash, excluding CPF. It's record because of my increase in pay and reduction in spending. It's necessary after I found out how much I need to save for my house next time. It definitely exceeds my target of 40%, I guess I have to set a new target of 60% next year.

Physical
Consistent gym - checked. Consistent diet - checked. Changes in body shape - slowly.
In March I had the salad diet for 5 days a week and my fat percentage really dropped. I was too scrawny I guess and that diet was unsustainable. I got tired of eating cold stuff and tasteless chicken breast after 3 months so I switched to a better pasta and steak. Also I had the leg injury in April so I couldn't do running for 3 months. I'm less disciplined on food now but at least it's better than the salty and oily food outside. I still love my alcohol and bubble tea and also I have avoided beer for this year, which results in a non-existent tummy. Gold for my IPPT for the first time in my life in December, I have incorporated the 3 core exercises (core getting stronger) and 2.4 cardio twice a week into my regime, so let's see the results next year.

My hair remained the same but in December I decided to cut really short towards the end of the year like Alan said. My hair is really thinning. I just bought the hair serum from Ordinary and see how it goes. My facial routine as below.
Morning: VC100, moisturiser, sunblock.
Night: Sk2, Hatogumi lotion, retinol and hair serum.
This routine has been working well for me, I'm not changing anything.

Social
Friendship wise, there were emotions here and there but nothing serious. First half of the year is clearing thing up and the dip in May/June. Sometimes I feel that friends know me better than I do myself. I often bring up memories from the last 10-20 years which is outdated, I need to only keep the past 3-5 years of experience or learning. Most of my close friends are actually overseas, like Neab, Shikai, Kelvin. The frequent flavour of the month with LJ and Reika. December was very intense with a lot of new people and Vic and Daniel Twin coming back. I haven't really met up with my regular friends, the choir gang and the drinking gang. I think I'm just too lazy or I have a fixed schedule already or I just want to save money. So much so that Jarren given up asking me along for drinking haha.

It seems like every year there will be this certain one-off event that will mess up my mind.

Overall
This year is one of the best year I've had in a while. I'm doing well in career, although I could do with higher salary, but my boss is satisfied with me and I feel fulfilled I can do so much here. Actually I'm quite afraid because equivalent trade - was it because I had a bad year last year or am I going to have a bad year ahead? I don't know, but 1/3 of my day is spent at work and it is currently good. I had a recent good connection with my boss's boss as well over shows and anime. I am so grateful and relieved I was headhunted here.

I also realised I could actually quit all my social media. After I took on a decision to quit all the apps in June/July, I became more focused without all the excess and unnecessary information in my head. I completed tonnes of things like re-doing my room, Marie Kondoing, completing my gundams, selling my stuff, finishing shows and books. Honestly that didn't last long but at least I know I can have control over social media, instead of the other way round and I could switch them off just like that

I started reading on the train to work and I think I completed a record number of books this year. From three body problem trilogy to the 8 witcher books, I'm always on a lookout for new scifi or adventure series and the library is one of my fav places to go during weekends. Am I a nerd now?

My tagline of 2019: Comfort
I felt like so many things happened in 2019 but right now at end of the year I am just so comfortable that all those things doesn't matter anymore. The highlight of the year is the Jordan trip with Neab which was unexpectedly cool and exciting. 2 days of snowboarding this year is definitely not enough.

2020
2020 will be another stable year, I can only move on to another position or job in December 2020 so career-wise not much change.
My regular snowboarding trip coming up, and I am tempted to book another snowboarding at Zao Onsen trip, and another Osaka/Okayama/Kurashiki/Naoshima trip. And also probably a LA trip to visit Daniel and Becky.